Velmi, not vemly

Without the play, I find myself, again, with a wealth of free time to fill. Let's remember who's talking here -- did you honestly think I'd just spend my free time sitting on the internet all day, or reading books in coffee shops? Cmon folks.

So Tuesday night my friend Liz and I decided to check out a DJ playing as part of FebioFest (a film/music festival, this one coincidentally organized by the guy who teaches my producing class). I couldn't get a hold of her before the show, but decided to go anyway and see if I could find her. No reason to waste a night just because technology sucks. And entry was free, so why the hell not?

Turns out they had rescheduled the group we wanted to see, and playing instead was a Cuban jazz group, direct from Havana. I jammed out to some sweet marimba/cha cha/salsa for a while, attempting to understand the Spanish (Cuban Spanish is like Liverpool English). It was fun, but I never found Liz, so I got bored after a bit and called Dan.

Yesterday was my standard Wednesday, or at least what has become my standard Wednesday with these slightly-meaningless classes at FAMU (I understand now why credits don't transfer back to USC). My first film class, the science one that's really boring, consisted of the prof reading every question from our midterm and telling us the answers so we get them right when we take it next week (admittedly, after this class I finally understand what's going on and find it interesting). That went a bit late, and when I went to my next class down the hall, the door was locked and no one was there. So I went and had dinner instead, and came back for my last class of the day, where we watched Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror. Well, they watched. I fell asleep for a lot of it. And then I left early to go play poker. Sometimes it's just tough to sit through movies with no plot, you know?

The highlight of my week came today, though, as I did some homework for my Czech class. We have to write an essay about our spring break, and I'm resourceful, so I of course asked Tomas to take a look at mine and check it over. What followed was 20 minutes of some hilarious interaction, consisting mostly of Tomas mumbling to himself and me in Czech while alternately correcting and laughing at my terrible butchering of his mother tongue and getting frustrated as he tried to figure out how to use the keyboard on my computer. One thing he and Zuzana got a real kick out of was my misspelling of the word "velmi" (which means very...I write in exaggerations, even in Czech!) as "vemly." I don't think I'm ever going to live that one down.

The two of them are gone now, though, off to a Maturity Ball for a friend ("go somewhere with girls!" they told me). And with the cat away, Vaclav is hanging around the house more tonight, chatting with me about his favorite YouTube video (please watch it, it'll make your day), his newest love affairs with women from Boston, ambitions for working at Mandarin Oriental hotels around the world, and a Method Man concert on Saturday.

Praha nights, you will never grow old.

It's still light outside

Spring has most certainly sprung now, since the clocks changed. I'm completely thrown off by how late the sun is out! It makes me feel guilty for being at home, inside. I'm going to start carrying a book around with me so I can always stop in a park and do some reading whenever I find myself with nothing to do (I'm trying to read more books. I feel like I don't have time to read for pleasure at home).

Which is exactly what happened today. Class ended at five and the sun was still bright in the sky, so I took a walk around the Vysehrad area and found myself gazing, once again, over this fantastic city. I love how familiar the skyline looks now - between my Art and Architecture of Prague class and my own sightseeing, I've managed to get at least a little background on almost all of the most prominent buildings. That familiarity that was missing at the beginning of this trip? Well, when I got off the plane yesterday and took the bus back into the city, I suddenly felt at home, relieved to be not understanding Czech again (as opposed to not understanding French and German). Guess I'm familiar now.

Another sign of this: Zuzana's cooking dinner right now, and told me we'd make garlic mashed potatoes again, like last time. I said "but Tomas didn't like them!" And she replied "he'll have the plain ones, we'll have the garlic" and smiled in that sneaky way mothers do that seems to say ain't he boring?? Familiarity and family. And I'm thousands of miles from home. (Or am I? Oh now I'm going back to a very old argument of mine...)

The warmer weather reminds me even more of home, as in Northbrook home. I'm remembering how much I always loved that first day of warm weather in high school, the first day when you could take off your jacket on your way to your car and leave the windows open while you drove home, music loud, drumming on the steering wheel. And around Vysehrad today, there was a smell of a grill coming from a restaurant that to me could only mean Memorial Day or July 4th.

I love this time of year, if you can't tell, and I'm excited to spend it here. This weekend I'm traveling with my program to southern Bohemia, a town (and UNESCO World Heritage site) called česky Krumlov. The next weekend, Dan and I hit Amsterdam. And then, before I know it, my parents are visiting and we're driving to Budapest. With less than two months remaining here, I'm just excited to let it all happen!

Switzerland by the numbers

Pictures are up on Flickr, and also make sure to check out the two videos I posted on YouTube (especially the one of Dan falling off a sled). Rather than tell you every detail of what happened over the weekend, I thought I'd keep it to the essential facts.

60 - amount, in Swiss Francs, I won playing blackjack at the casino in Interlaken on Thursday night.
130 - amount Dan won
2 - number of minutes we stayed there after we realized we had won money (we were very proud of our self-control).

10 - number of feet we could see in front of ourselves while sledding (yes! Sledding in the Swiss Alps!) on Friday. We went with Kristen, the girl who was staying in our room as she travels Europe alone for 2 months.

3 - number of new friends we have from Liverpool
about 12 - number of words I actually understood when they spoke to us (in English...I think).

3 - number of falls Dan had while skiing on Saturday, out of more than 15, that were so dramatic, traumatic, and terrifying that we had specific names by which to call them:

....The One Where Dan Fell off a Cliff
Dan has trouble stopping on skis. So, when I told him I thought he'd be fine doing some harder runs, he agreed to try them. We both quickly learned we were wrong. On this occasion, early in the day, he sped off in front of me so far that I couldn't see him any more. I got to a convenient stopping point where I figured he had probably purposely fallen to stop...but didn't find him. So I went on to the bottom of the slope, thinking he might be waiting there. No sign of him. I started panicking. We hadn't set a meeting point in case we got separated, and it was quite clear to me that he wouldn't have made it to a meeting point anyways because he had obviously fallen off a cliff and was dead and it was my fault. I took a chair lift back toward the top of the mountain so I could get a birds-eye view of the slope. For five minutes, no sign of him. Then, a lump of clothing lying on the side of a trail suddenly looked familiar! "DAN!!!" I shouted, with relief! "Yeah..." He responded, in pain. Turns out he had spun off the course into a ditch, and his skis and poles were 25 feet behind him.

....The One Where He Hit the Fence
Right after I finally caught up to him, we continued down the slope, headed for easier trails. But alas, Dan could still not stop and started speeding down again, only to fall at a convenient point - he flipped through the air a few times, finally crashing his thigh into a fence post and landing in a ditch. When he got up, he said he was having trouble seeing.

....The One Where He Almost Died
He gained some confidence. We realized his boots had been unstrapped the entire time, giving him almost no control over his skis. So, I thought, let's try another tougher one. We went up this terrible kind of lift thing where you have to stand the entire time, only to find ourselves at the top of another peak, in a dense fog. Dan was terrified. But there was really no other way down (if it was a real chairlift, he could have taken that back down). So we started, slowly, making our way down the slope, when it took a sudden drop (which surprised me so much that I fell too). Dan, unable to slow himself down but committed to staying standing, sped down the hill at what had to be 45mph, finally beginning to fall at the top of another drop. He slipped out of my sight. When I found him again, he was lying on the ground at the bottom of this steep part, his equipment scattered on the hill above him: first a ski, then a hat and goggles, a pole, another ski, a pole. He had done three front handsprings before finally coming to a halt, his shirt bunched up in his jacket and his body covered with snow.

1:00am - time at which we thought check-in closed for our hostel in Geneva, which we had to get to on Saturday night so we could catch our early flight
3 - number of minutes it took for us to rush to the other side of Interlaken, only to find out that the train we had to catch in order for us to make it on time was actually a bus and had left without us. We caught a later train and had some peace, thanks to Mom, who found out the place was actually open 24hrs.

10 - minutes I spent talking to Gonzalo, a random Portuguese guy with whom I struck up a conversation at the end of the train ride (he was VERY inebriated). When he heard we were American, he started naming American DJs...none of which I've heard of. So our conversation essentially consisted of "You know Carl Cox?" "No, sorry man" "Oh he's..." etc etc etc. He asked for my phone number, and instead of giving it to him, I got his.

8 - amount of time, in hours, we spent at the Geneva Youth Hostel on Saturday night.
9 - amount of time, in hours, that actually elapsed during that period as a result of Europe's change to "summer time." We didn't miss our flight, don't worry.

5 - number of days, including today, we were in Switzerland
2 - number of showers I took. There was no way I was showering at the Geneva hostel, and we didn't have a room where I could shower after we skied. So I was just gross until this afternoon. Pleasant, ain't it?

Der bloggen!

Ya! Dan and I are taking a break from the day, relaxing in the hostel, so I thought I'd take advantge of he free internet and tell you all about it.

I'm writing this from the Funny Farm hostel in Interlaken, a fantastic place for me and Dan to spend a few nights. The hostel is in a refurbished old hotel, so the rooms are outstanding, and just like in Krakow, the lobby is a lively place filled with music and constant activity. We even got a free upgrade to a 4-person! Our only roomate is from Colorado. And she's a girl.

Interlaken itself ranks amongst the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It sits between two lakes (inter...laken) and is surrounded by the towering Swiss alps, over 2000m high. Everything is covered in a fresh snow from earlier this week

This is in quite stark contrast to our experience in Geneva. Also a beautiful place, don't get me wrong. But really, all that's there are watch stores (hundreds) and banks (THOUSANDS). Our hostel also wasn't the best place. It was much bigger than any I've stayed in, and much more industrial...no way to really get to know anyone. It was billed as a youth hostel, but there were still many awkwardly old people staying there...including one about 50 year old in our room who might be considering a career in competitive snoring. Dad, this guy is your idol - seeming to find the resonant frequency of the room, he literally shook the whole thing.

But all was not lost in this land of middle aged business men and empty restaurants at 6pm. Dan and I struck up a conversation with an Aussie named Chris, and the three of us went up the street to an Irish pub where, it seemed, the entire population of the city was spending their evening. Chris, as it turned out, was staying in our room too, and his personality was the amicable one Lisa always talks about Aussies having. We had a great time.

After my sleepless night, our train left for Interlaken at 9am. At 1230, we were at our hostel. At 2:00, we ate lunch. At 3:00, Dan and I were about 2100 feet off the ground, attached to parachutes and guides. Paragliding is awesome. As I landed, my pilot (a fifteen year professional) had a first --- our parachute got caught in a tree! Many many pictures to come on Flickr, and a video of Dan's takeoff too.

I need a nap.

It's snowing again

Just like in Chicago, I guess Prague gets one or two days of snow toward the beginning of spring. At least I'm not having my Bar Mitzvah this weekend.

It's been a fun filled last 24 hours! The show went very well again last night, with a sizable crowd in attendance. They announced the contest winners after the show (an audience award and the main writing contest)...and we didn't win anything. Oh well.

The real fun came after the show, when The Prague Post hosted a gala in the bar area of the theater, complete with open bar(!), fresh boar with horseradish and mustard, and a massive set-up of ridiculous desserts. Dan and I were having a field day, and not just with the food - I've spoken before about how awesome it's been to get to know the English-speaking expat community here, and that's only gotten better. Last night became one massive exercise in networking. We began with an introduction to Mirka, one of the three top casting agents in Prague, who hadn't seen our play but was incredibly enthusiastic about having us come to her office so she could take our photos. She was sure we could "work together." Then, there was the lovely woman we struck up a conversation with who, it turns out, is the director of operations for the Prague Post. Everyone we meet tells me and Dan two things - we have a fantastic on-stage chemistry, and we should definitely use that somehow. We've been told the first part before, but this is the first time people have told us that we could find success exploiting our relationship.

All this is a long way of saying that Dan is almost definitely going to be staying here through the summer. To be honest, if I didn't have anything to come home to, I'd stay here too. Hell, the two of us might still come back here after college and just write and act. Who knows?

For a while last night it didn't look like I was going to be able to get up this morning for my scheduled tour with Tomas of Czech Television. (Sidenote: I had a dream that I got a hair cut, and in the dream I was SO happy. A sign?) But I managed it, and I'm incredibly happy I did. Czech media was developed under communism, of course, and so there are now only three networks here: Nova, Prima, and the state-owned Czech TV (it works like the BBC, with two public access channels and a few cable/satellite channels). The complex that houses all of its production is not very far from our house, and it is HUGE (apparently they employ 3000 people). Tomas took me through all the most interesting sites of the place, including their big studios (looks just like the US), multiple cafeterias (seriously I was struck by how many there were), and lines of offices.

What was new to me was the area they call "dubbing street," which is an entire building wing dedicated to all the different processes for dubbing media into Czech. Lots of ADR studios, of course. One friend of Tomas's, upon hearing that I study in Los Angeles, quipped "so this is like a museum to you!" Not quite. But admittedly, it was really impressive to see Tomas sit down to start work on a dub for a BBC documentary in front of a Tesla mixer from probably the late 70s, and with no ProTools set up in sight. Tomas's job during production is a really cool one - as producer, he coaches the actors and makes sure the timing for their announcing complements the images. Neat.

Rest of the day has been relaxing and prepping to leave tomorrow. It's gonna be one helluva week, I'm sure. There will be lots of photos to peruse, and I'm gonna try to do some blogging from there as well to avoid one huge post when I get back. Who wants chocolate???

More photos now on Facebook

Today I found out that Facebook released a free plug-in for iPhoto that lets you export to a Facebook album (I've been using the plug-in for Flickr since I've been here). So since it's now really easy, I'm going to start uploading pictures of people to Facebook, and pictures of sites and other things to Flickr. Here's my first album (it should be visible even if you're not on Facebook. You're not on Facebook?)

Nothing to do today, and it's not nice outside...so I'm just gonna hang out. Last show tonight, with a party to follow. Then it's off to eat chocolate for five days.

Spring break begins

Midterms are over, the temperatures are still balmy (for now), and I am officially on spring break. Not a moment too soon - it's high time I did some traveling around Europe, don't you agree? My trip to Switzerland is going to be awesome.

There's nothing truly like waking up in the morning (afternoon) in a foreign country, where you've been living for only two months (as of Friday), and opening up the newspaper to see your own face staring back at you. No, I wasn't arrested (yet), but there's an ad for the play in this week's Prague Post, and my picture is in it. This whole experience just keeps getting more surreal.

Yesterday, I went with Tomas and Zuzana to a family gathering of sorts, celebrating a cousin's birthday (and, we found out, to announce her pregnancy). I always find it really fun to be in a room full of people speaking Czech. I've become a master of people watching and pantomiming as a result. The food at this little lunch affair was absolutely incredible (pork, cous cous, ridiculous cakes, including JC's favorite babovka, beer, espresso), and it's always interesting to see how people react to me, the first student this family has ever hosted. Highlight of the afternoon, though, was when the five-year-old son of Tomas's cousin (the one who directs the wonderful Baroque music group) tested out his English skills by calling me "small." I said "you're small!" He pointed at me and said "Taky [also] small!"

I rushed from there to the theater, and had to take a nap in the dressing room. The show went very well again last night, and the audience was our biggest yet. Afterwards, Dan and I met some people from his program (they had come to the show...everyone from my program is on vacation already, remember) and along the way, we were recognized by a few people who had seen the show. Now, admittedly, we're a pretty physically memorable pair of guys. But I'm still kinda floored.

Last night was a great night. I love hanging out with Dan's friends (I can and do call them my own friends at this point, but it's easier to refer to them as "Dan's friends" so you don't get confused), probably more than I've enjoyed people from CIEE. We hopped from bar to bar to club last night, dancing and talking the whole way.

My hair is really long. Not like really long like it was when I left LA, really long like when it's wet it easily blocks my vision. When it's dry, it's the same length, only sticking straight up, and there's nothing I can do to make it do anything else. On the sides, it sticks out like a pair of wings, but no matter how fast I run I haven't been able to take off yet. Rob made a great comment about it on my Facebook wall: "i was perusing your photos, and noticed that your izro (israeli fro) paired with your new glasses makes you look more jewish than jesus."

Today will be a day of recovery, filled with basketball and doing as little as possible. If USC beats Texas, I might be able to recall my hitmen from their "murder Vince Young" mission. But only maybe.

A fantastic dinner conversation

Dinner tonight was awesome. Food was great, of course, but conversation!

First, Vaclav talked about his night last night, where two female friends of his got very drunk and started making out, then asked Vaclav to be their...um...he asks, "How do you call a man who owns bitches?"

Then, we talked about my parents' visit (in a month). Mom and dad want to take the Jančařikovi out to a nice dinner to thank them for hosting me, of course, so I suggested we go to Kampa Park, a very nice restaurant, expensive for Prague but normal for its status. This seemed fine, but I became aware of Tomaš not really approving. He gets uncomfortable in restaurants like that, Vaclav and Zuzana explained. They spent a few minutes trying to explain why, but Tomas was getting more and more frustrated, feeling like they weren't representing his views fairly.

So he got up and tried himself, and I finally understood. In his words, he can't go to a place like that and pay that much for a meal without thinking of all the meals it could have bought someone more deserving. He grabbed a dictionary and looked up the word he was trying to use, then asked me if I thought he was stingy with his family, with his house, and of course I said no, because he certainly isn't. A place like that seems really wasteful to him, he explained with lots of hand gestures (for a minute I thought he might accidentally hit Zuzana) and a raised tone of voice. Vaclav explained that for a special occasion, it's ok to go somewhere like that. But still, Tomas stuck by his opinion of being economical, environmental (we never waste water or electricity here), and generally conscious of using too much of anything.

Well, there you have it. Tonight, I pinpointed the major difference in culture between Americans and Czechs, the one to which all other differences can be related. For my family, going to a nice (read: expensive) restaurant for a special occasion is second nature -- we celebrate by consuming more than normal. But this is not a very consumerist-oriented society (yet). They've only started to get that kind of Western influence since 1989. So, as Tomas explained, go somewhere with a nice view, have a beer or a coffee, and that is more valuable than going to a nice restaurant.

I've been trying to find a way to best explain to all you readers how the effects of Communism and totalitarianism are still very visible here, and I think this is a perfect example. Of course! We can't go to Kampa Park, that's the restaurant for Westerners visiting Prague; the average Czech probably wouldn't set foot in it unless he or she was working there. So instead, we'll go to a nice restaurant on Petřin hill, where you can eat outside in nice weather and get the unarguably best views of Prague. That will be a celebration.

Don't read this one

Not much has happened in the past few days --- I just hate leaving a lot of time in between posts when the last one was so ominous/prophetic!

Midterms are the same as always. I'm trying not to study very much, and I'm being successful at that. Watched The Man Who Wasn't There last night and enjoyed it much more than studying for a midterm in Art and Architecture of Prague.

Yesterday might have been the best day in the history of my existence for one reason, and one reason only. I had svičkova. Twice. In one day.

Like I said, not much going on.

Prague Spring Fever

Show went well again last night, save for a hilarious moment when Dan and I almost cracked up on stage. Jonas was in attendance, as were another few people from my program, and they all enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I'm having a lot of fun performing again! Maybe I should be an actor...

Anyhow, today has been a fine day, punctuated by a dinner courtesy of the University of Southern California. The adviser from the USC abroad office is here until Wednesday, and he took all the USC kids out for dinner. He's a great guy - getting a masters in PoliSci, and in the meantime gets to take all-expenses-paid trips to Prague (and Poland). I knew I liked him the minute I met him. While advisers from other schools were all in their suits, ties, and dark colors, this guy is wearing khakis and a powder blue button down, looking like LA incarnate (plus he's Filipino...and everyone in Prague is white). He could have gone to dinner with his colleagues but, in his words, "I was like, I'm....gonna go out with my kids!" Drinking on USC's tab is always fine with me! (and we got a FIVE seed??? Fight on!)

It made me realize something (oh, here he goes again. yeah, eat me.) that I've learned by being abroad, and by turning 21. I suddenly feel much more experienced. Where I've always felt a sort of gap between myself and anyone I spoke with who was older than me (like I should be almost reverent), I now feel a bit more qualified to identify with them. I don't feel so young. It's nice. And scary.

Today I should finish the book I've been reading since I got here, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It's a new favorite of mine, and as with all books I like, I find myself wishing it was longer because I feel like it's come to sort of define this moment. My voice in this blog has certainly been influenced by it (if you can't tell, click the link above and read the first page. You'll get what I mean). So I almost feel like there's going to be a change in my general feeling soon.

And I'm not the only one feeling that way. I think it's the weather - in the 60s for the rest of the week. It's springtime in Prague, and it's almost the halfway point of our little journey here. I see those couples who've been together since the beginning (in secret, of course, never officially together because that would close off options and being in your 20s is all about keeping options open. Which is why no one can ever decide what club to go to), they suddenly start to look all too familiar with each other, like it might turn into a "real" relationship. And friends are beginning to settle even more, people moving into a new phase of confidence in their Prague identities. I certainly am.

Change is always good.

Time to study for my midterm.

you can still read this in China

In case you were wondering, greatfirewallofchina.org is a cool site that tests whether your site can be seen in China. I'm still goin strong! It'd be fun to test the limits...

One of the best nights yet

So the show went up last night, and was a rousing success. I discovered some pictures of us on the Prague Post website - just in case you didn't believe me, here's the proof that Dan and I are honestly appearing on stage together in the Czech Republic. Dan's comment: "if you'd have told me three years ago that you and I were going to be in a play in the Czech Republic, I probably would have said...'don't you mean Czechoslovakia?'"

The theatre was about half-full (maybe 100 people), and they were all laughing at us (even the little kid in the back row. Our director's comment: "if we can make a kid laugh, you know that shit is honest"). My personal highlight was when, at the end of the show as my shirt comes unbuttoned and my gloriously toned abs, luscious pecs, and hair-free chest are out there for all to see, that little kid yelled "EEEEWWW!"

Afterwards, I went to the lobby with little in the way of hope or expectation at seeing anyone I knew. But I was wrong. About seven people from my program showed up and stayed through the whole thing to give me a hug and tell me they enjoyed it. Definitely made my night, day, week, month, you name it.

So, a successful opening night under our belts, Dan and I set out to a) put some more money on my phone, and b) get Dan some food. Our director, Tyler, had a table reserved at a super-trendy club called M1, so we decided to meet him there for a few drinks.

The best part of being in this play was something I did not expect when I was first cast. There is a very, very closely-knit American expat community here in Prague, and this show has essentially been my pass into that elite club. I've met tons of people, all of whom are business owners or performers here in Prague, and all of whom know each other (there's seriously only about 1 degree of separation between anyone who speaks English and lives here). It's really enriched things.

And its also starting to give me the hook-up. Tyler introduced me to his friend Jonathan, a magician who's headlined in Vegas and has used Prague as a base for the past few years as he's toured Europe doing stage magic (I've never had more of a desire to be with Magic Mike than when I found that out. I definitely would have set up a magic-off, right there, in the middle of the club). He showed us some cool tricks. Oh, and by the way, he owns the club we were at.

Three bottles of complimentary champagne later (Jonathan wanted to make sure we celebrated our successful show), my inner Hollywood boy suddenly turned on and I realized that I had connections to exploit in this situation. My host brother, Vaclav, is a concierge at one of the nicest hotels in Prague, and the owner of this club would surely want to meet him and make sure Vaclav talks up his club to all the rich tourists. I mentioned it to Jonathan and was told that'd be a "huge favor, thanks man." So I called up Vaclav and Jonathan hooked him up with a VIP pass, and in the meantime I assured myself free entry into this club whenever I want it.

On the way back, on the tram, Dan and I were minding our own business when a Czech man reminded us that we weren't supposed to eat on the tram. I knew that. Dan knew that. We weren't planning on eating the food till we got off. But I guess Dan was a little sassy in his response to the guy, so the American behind him got involved and things kinda escalated. Dan wants to get in a fight ("honestly, I'm a six foot five frat star"). To be honest, I'd have had his back. But we just turned around and complained about it instead.

Ahhh, what a successful evening! The only thing that could make this better would be...waking up to svičkova. Oh wow, is there really anything else in life that matters? Honestly.

Tonight, we do it all again (minus the club probably. Well actually who knows). And there are supposed to be some more folks from my program in attendance.

let's go trojan...basketball???

Apparently UCLA lost in the first round of the Pac-10 tourney. HERE WE GO TROJANS.

I got lost again

But this time it was purposeful!

Back up - yesterday was a very lazy day (well deserved in my opinion after three days of rehearsals, classes, and general running-around. Plus it was raining). After dinner, I headed into the city and spent some more time with Dan and the folks from his program. Honestly, I see them more than people from my own program - is that an issue?

So today I woke up -- actually I don't think it should be called that. We need to invent a word that implies what happens when you wake up but you're still sleeping and staggering around everywhere. Let's say...began to re-enter consciousness.

So today I began to re-enter consciousness and went to class, where I inadvertently discovered how to tell someone, in Czech, that I want to have sex this weekend.

After class (and a heated self-debate over whether I was more hungry then tired or the other way around. I have those more and more frequently), Steph and I headed to Bohemia Bagel for lunch (I was craving some lox). When about five other people showed up, none of whom had a point of conversation with me, I decided it best to call it a day and either head back home for a nap, or head to a park for some reading (another beautiful day today). I found my body compelling me toward the funicular (that's like a tram, only...funicul-er?) up to Petrin hill.

When I reached the top, I started walking. I don't really know why, but I just kept going and going. Maybe it was the weather - it reminded me of those fall days when my dad and I always used to take walks around the block and call it exercise. Whatever the reason, I just walked through the labyrinthine trails around the hill, happening to stumble upon some of the best views of Prague Castle, an observatory, and meandering around a big, old wall. It was a great walk.

Came home, took a nap, and then helped Zuzana with a new recipe - last night, we had mashed potatoes with a big kielbasa, and when asked if we had mashed potatoes in the US, I replied that it was a personal favorite, especially with garlic. Garlic?? In mashed potatoes?? It seemed so strange to them! So we made some tonight, just like they are at home - nice and fluffy with butter, cream, and sauteed garlic. They were really delicious, and it was nice to expose the fam to a new piece of American culture. But I think Tomas will stick to the Czech kind.

It dawned on me today that my play opens tomorrow. Crazy! Makes me feel like I've been here for so long.

More trips, more lazy days

Yesterday was a great day. Class was fine, but the best idea I've ever had was ditching most of them - I had to miss my last two for rehearsal anyhow, and I needed a nap. Rehearsals have been frustrating, mostly because we're still stopping every two seconds and the whole thing feels so slow and not funny. Thankfully, that finally changed last night, when we had a great run.

I really wanted to go nuts last night, but I unfortunately have this love/hate relationship with my producing class (my other class today was canceled). I love the class, but I hate waking up at 7am to go to it. So I left Dan and his friends to get home early enough to wake up and go to this class. Dan had a great night.

Today I booked my last trip. From May 13-18, I'll be spending five days alone on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast (Split, then Dubrovnik, with maybe an island in between), before flying back to Prague for one last (I'm sure fun-filled) night before my whirlwind trip back to Chicago and then LA (Prague-London-Chicago on 5/19, Chicago-LA in time for class on 5/21). I'm having trouble booking a hostel in both places, but I'm figuring it'll be warm enough for me to sleep on the street anyways....I'm sure the highlight of the trip (besides walking down beaches, laying in the sun, and swimming in what's supposed to be the best water in the Mediterranean) will be my planned visit to the Plitvice Lakes National Park - supposedly one of the most beautiful places on earth. Not to mention, it'll be nice to have a bunch of time to myself before I start what could be the most intense summer to date.

In news from the home front, I feel obliged to mention the USC Free Culture group's successful protest of USC's Free Speech Zone. Not only did their peaceful protest get some heads turning, but they even got fined by the University for their placement of fliers in "non-designated" areas. Read their response to the fine here.

That's all for now. Lost is almost finished downloading.

Tech rehearsals suck

...in any language, in any country. Especially when the tech crew has to take cues in a language they don't understand.

Saturday I really didn't do much except sleep and go to dress rehearsal. I stopped by a party some of the folks in my program were throwing, an "Američanka Party." For the little bit I was there, I had an awesome time. And I think the fact that a few of the people in my program couldn't help but throw an American-style frat party out of their apartment in the middle of Prague probably tells you something...that said, they really are very nice people.

Sunday was similarly lazy - went to The Globe cafe in the city to read Tom Stoppard's new play Rock 'n' Roll which is playing now at the National Theatre, and is about the underground rock scene in Prague during communism. Tom Stoppard is Czech - that was news to me!

I'm beginning to finalize my plans to return home for the summer. And I'm starting to submit my resume for internships and the like. Looks like I'll have five days to travel once I'm done here, and my sights are set on Croatia - said to be the most beautiful place in Europe, but a place I probably wouldn't go otherwise. I've been realizing lately that I really wish I could study here for longer. It's nice to be here for four months, but I'm still so focused on getting back home and setting things up for myself there. If I had been here a year, I could have really detached myself from home.

That's not to say I'm not completely exuberantly overjoyed with my experience here thus far. As I was saying to JC in a recent Facebook message, it's incredible how clear my mind is from being here and having some time to just kinda...do anything...and nothing. It's allowed me to kinda re-look at a lot of the things I've done and a lot of the things I'm trying to do. And something awesome happened - I was really happy with what I saw.

Ah, I got really sentimental there for a moment!

Anyhow, the show goes up this weekend and I'm excited to perform, AND to get it out of the way (though rehearsals have gotten much better thanks to my and Dan's ability to hang out with our incredibly attractive costume designer). I hope people see it.

Tomorrow is class and rehearsal. Sounds like high school all over again...

An interesting Friday that I'll never forget.

So the concert on Thursday turned out to be absolutely awesome. It was Tomas's cousin, not his nephew, and he plays this incredible Baroque organ that's powered by two levers that the musician has to push up every so often to keep air running through the instrument. Add to that this sweet Baroque-era cello-looking-thing (which had like 4 extra strings on it to give it a higher range), an early relative of the viola that looked like a mandolin with a six foot neck, and a wonderful singer, and you had a recipe for success.

Friday I had a test in my Czech class, which I of course studied for...afterwards, I headed to Cafe Louvre for lunch and some Prague Post reading, which was the best decision I've ever made. That night I was planning to catch some films that are playing here as part of the One World Documentary Festival. There were too many things that sounded interesting, and all of them were playing yesterday!

So I ended up catching two movies. Out of Balance is about ExxonMobil's contribution to the global warming crisis (they're the only major oil company not to acknowledge there's a problem, and they're the largest private company in the history of mankind). And then at night, Dan, Jonas, and I (and just about every other English-speaking person in Prague) witnessed the heartbreaking, nauseating, wonderful film Jesus Camp. If you haven't seen it, please do. It was fantastic to be a Jew watching this film in a theatre filled with atheists (the Czech Republic is the most atheist country in the world, remember). I understand now, more than ever, how the most common stereotype of Americans is true. People here perceive us as a country of religious zealots. And, to varying degrees, we are.

After the movie Dan and I hung out a bit with a Four Card poker dealer (who robbed us), and then I had the most unnerving experience I've had to date. I come home late nearly every night, which of course means I often run into interesting people in my walk from the tram back up to the house. Last night, I emerged from the underground passage as I always do, and as I was about to cross the street, I heard a voice from the other side. It was a woman, in her mid-30s, very thin but mostly healthy looking in the dark, standing at the bus stop. She was wearing a pink button-down sweater, a long skirt with a slit in the middle, and a pair of boots. She was talking to herself.

A strange sight to be sure. No buses come to that stop late at night. I crossed the street, aware of her staring at me, and silently hoped she wouldn't follow me. So when I heard footsteps start up behind me, the cold clank of boots on cobblestones, I knew I might be in trouble. I kept walking, giving the benefit of the doubt, but figured it might be a good idea to test my theory by crossing the street and seeing if she followed. As I did that she got very close to me. I turned around to see her face, like a deer in headlights.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm following you."
Heart pounding.
"It's ok."

Brief silence, we stand there, me about to cross the street and her waiting for me to speak. She was helpless.

"Do you need anything?
"Oh I dunno. Just a beer. And a friend."
"Okay"

Okay...I cross the street, her now next to me, and she tried to hook her arm in mine. When I recoiled a bit, she was visibly embarrassed, still trying to feel out the boundaries of our relationship.

She repeated, "it's ok, it's ok. We don't have to do that."
"I mean you no harm."
She laughs at this, relieved. "And I to you as well."

"Where do you live?" I asked, trying to keep her talking and take her mind off of killing me.
"Nowhere now. I am an exile, from Israel"
Heart pounding.
"Jewish?"
"Yes, I am Jewish"

I believe her, and her Israeli accent. We walk on and talk more (I honestly can't remember most of what was said; my mind was racing, and it was nearly 4am). I apologize to her,

"I can't give you the beer."
"Oh that's alright. I'm just trying to live, you know? That's not wrong is it? That's not illegal is it?"
"It's not illegal"
"No!" An unsettling laugh. "It's not illegal!"
"You know, there are places in the city center where you could stay for the night, shelters."
"No, they are too dangerous." She looks at me, right in the eye. "I know everything."

She talks about living in Jerusalem, spitting out her address like it's involuntary, telling me her brother's name and the name of her friend. She's trying to get back to Israel, she says. It's good to have friends, she says.

"Are you an agent of Mossad?" She says.
I don't know what to say at first, and she quickly answers for me with a nervous laugh, "Of course you are not!"
"No, I am American."
Silence.
"How did you end up in Prague?
"Oh...that is a very long story."
"You don't have to tell it then, it's alright."

We walk on, up the hill, and I know I can't let her see where I live, no matter how harmless she seems. So at the turn onto my street I tell her I'm sorry, but this is where I have to leave her. Thankfully, she takes to this well.

"But let me give you some money for a place to stay."
"Oh, thank you so much. That is so wonderful."

I fish the coins out of my pocket, knowing it's not much, but it's better than her stealing my wallet. When I hand it to her, I remember what Elizabeth always said about homeless people and touch - their lack of physical contact with people is often what drives them insane. So I make sure to take her hand as I give her the coins, softly dropping them. She is beaming. She kisses me on both cheeks.

We say goodbye, and she walks back down the hill, calling to me with a rambling monologue about it not being wrong to want to save your friends, and that's not illegal is it? No, it's not. I hear her voice fade away and the clank of her boots with it. I am breathing very heavily. Immediately, I call Dan. He asks if she was hot. We agreed that she must have committed some kind of crime and fled Israel.

So whats the moral of this story? What do I gain from this latest adventure? To be honest, I'm not sure. But I think I did something good last night. And I doubt I'll soon forget it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!

miss you!

How did this week go by so fast?

Honestly, where does the time go?

Somehow in the course of my insane weekend, I forgot that Taryn was coming to visit on Monday! So Monday was fun - class, rehearsal (where Dan and I finally spoke up and kinda really took over directing for a while...), and then a glorious reunion at night! We went to a wine bar near Karlovo Namesti (...that means nothing to you, I just realized) that was really awesome. Except I had forgotten my keys at home. So I went home early and woke up Jonas, who was nice enough to let me in. That guy rules.

Tuesday was so far my favorite day of the week, though. I've been stressing a bit lately about where I'm going to go for my spring break (in two weeks). My attempts to join onto other groups of people have thus far been unsuccessful...and to be honest, there was always at least one person in any group I asked about that I didn't really want to spend that much time with. It finally occurred to me, though, that I couldn't leave until after the play is done...and Dan has 5 days off every week.

So Dan and I began searching our asses off for somewhere to go. Croatia was our first choice, but that proved way too expensive for a 5 day trip (though it's cheaper if you fly out of Bratislava, Slovakia. But get this - that would mean a 5hr train ride to Bratislava to catch a flight, then a short flight with a layover IN PRAGUE. Annoying!). So, we started to look at what was cheap. The result: Dan and I are spending five days in beautiful Switzerland (the flight was less than $100!). Geneva first, followed by two nights in Interlaken, where we'll do a bunch of outdoors-y stuff that my sister would be proud of me for - canyoning, bungee jumping, skydiving...

Tuesday was a day of walking around Prague with Taryn (in the rain...weather here has been really gross lately, cold and rainy), booking that trip, and dinner/walking around Prague more with Taryn. In the process, we found Bakeshop Praha, and my life has not been the same since....It was amazing seeing Taryn; I think I'm going to try to get to Aix (southern France) before I leave.

Wednesday was busy busy busy as ever, though it included a fantastic lunch grabbed from one of my new favorite restaurants, Paneria (a chain of baguetteries around here). And last night, I was informed of the success of IEC's first concert, which has had me flying high ever since.

Today has been uneventful. Early class this morning was tough to get up for, though my breakfasting included a memorable conversation with Jonas.

J:...and they have a big wan.
E: A big what?
J: Wan. A car.
E: Oh, a vvvvvvvaaaaaannnnnn.
J (laughs): Yes, a wan.
E: I think it's really interesting how even Czechs who speak English really well have trouble saying "vvvvvv."
J: I'm saying it wrong?

Tonight, I'm going with the family to see Tomas's nephew (I think...) and his wife play in a band at a gallery opening. Sounds fun!

A sidenote: I signed up for a Google Analytics account for this page, so I can track how many visitors I get and where they're coming from. The results have been really interesting - 50% of the people visiting this blog in the past week are new! I can see dots on the world map from Boca Raton (Hi Poppy!) and random places all over SoCal. Craziness - I even have a reader in Beijing! Which might call for an experiment - if I bash Communism and US-China relations, do you think Chinese people will still be able to read this? Just a thought...